Justia Lawyer Rating for Robert D. Kreisman

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According to a study published in 2003 by the Office of Inspector General’s (OIG), deficiencies in nursing homes increased between 1998 and 2001. Although there appeared to be considerable variation with states regarding the average number of deficiencies per home and the percentage of nursing homes with deficiencies.
In the past 3 years the instances of nursing home deficiencies in Illinois and nationwide has risen to over 91 percent. A “nursing home deficiency” would be anytime a nursing home fails to comply with federal requirements and standards. The most commonly cited of the 16 possible deficiencies were in terms of quality of care, quality of life, and resident assessment.
As stated by the OIG analysis of data, in 2007 Illinois suffered an average of 5.3 deficiencies per nursing home surveyed, while the national average in 2007 was 7.0. Even though Illinois nursing homes fared better than many other states, over 90% of nursing homes in Illinois had deficiencies. Although this is an alarming number, it is below the national percentage of nursing homes with a deficiency of 91.9%.

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Five Cook County, Illinois residents with disabilities recently filed a class action lawsuit who are living in nursing homes after being denied access to community services that would have allowed them to live in an integrated, community setting. Colbert v. Blagojevich (Case No. 2007 C 4737). The plaintiffs aren’t alleging there was any nursing home abuse or neglect, but rather that there was a violation of their rights.
All five of the plaintiffs are Cook County, Illinois residents that are eligible for Medicaid. All were living in private nursing homes that received state and federal funding. Plaintiffs believe that they could have been living in their own personal residences if they had been given the appropriate services. The plaintiffs alleged that the state of Illinois had denied them the benefits they would have received from various community services, specifically long-term care services and support in a community setting as opposed to the long-term, nursing home settings they were currently being offered. They further allege that these sorts of services would have given them the opportunity to live somewhere other than an institutionalized setting.
The class action alleged that by failing to provide these services that Illinois officials resulted in violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Social Security Act, and the Nursing Home Reform Act. By filing this class action, plaintiffs are hoping the court will require the defendants to:

(1) inform individuals with disabilities that they may be eligible for community-based services and have the choice of such services, (2) regularly provide assessments to determine eligibility for community-based services, and (3) promptly provide appropriate services and support to qualifying individuals in the community, creating a viable alternative to treatment in institutional settings.

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Illinois has enacted legislation to protect nursing home residents because of past instances of nursing home abuse. For example, like many nursing home residents, Fred was admitted to a nursing home when his health declined to the point that his daughter was no longer able to continue caring for him at home. At the time of his admission the 84 year-old male was confined to his bed, needed a feeding tube, and had a Stage II pressure sore on his left hip.
Making the decision to entrust an elderly relative to receiving care at a nursing home is a hard one. Laws like the Illinois Nursing Home Care Act seek to alleviate some of the anxiety of the nursing home decision by addressing concerns of inadequate, improper and degrading treatment of patients in nursing homes. The Act provides residents with a wide range of rights, including the retention of a person’s own personal physician at their own expense. Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, then a State Senator for the 23rd District, was one of the chief sponsors of the Act when it was passed in 1979.
In addition to Illinois law, there is also the federal statute called the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1987 (OBRA). This statute sets up requirements for long-term care facilities throughout the country. What’s most important about the two statutes is that they demonstrate that the elderly need advocates.

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The Illinois Nursing Home Care Act was created to protect the rights of nursing home residents and combat Illinios nursing home abuse. In order to ensure a high standard of care for patients with Alzheimer’s disease or dementia, the Act requires that each individual providing care to a patient with dementia undergoes proper “training in the care and treatment of such residents”.
Alzheimer’s disease is a brain disorder that affects over 5 million people throughout the U.S. This tragic disease destroys brain cells and affects the memory, behavior, and thinking processes of those with the disease. The nature of the symptoms, which can range from verbal outbursts, violent tendencies, or hallucinations, health care professionals must be patient and understanding when caring for patients with Alzheimer’s.
However, too often we hear about nursing home residents with Alzheimer’s who receive substandard care and come to harm because of a lack of understanding regarding their disease. Take for example the case of 87 year-old Melanie, a nursing home resident suffering from the Alzheimer’s disease. One day she became increasingly aggressive and the employees called for nursing assistance to assess the situation. But no one answered the repeated calls for assistance over the next several hours.
When Melanie’s Alzheimer’s made her so aggressive that the employees were unable to calm her down or control her a nursing home employee finally resorted to calling the local police. They reported that Melanie was extremely aggressive and threatening. The police arrived at the nursing home and subdued Melanie by handcuffing her. None of this would have been necessary had the nursing staff stepped in and diffused Melanie’s outburst. Instead the police had to step in and bring this 87 year-old woman to the hospital to receive treatment.

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